INTERVIEW AT THE MIRROR: VASCO BUONPENSIERE AND GIORGIO M. CASETTA ON PROJECT RAW

In the yachting industry, most new designs emerge from the evolution of existing projects, often by scaling them up or down, mainly up, seen the best profitability of the bigger projects at least in the custom/semi-custom market. This approach allows manufacturers to broaden their offerings within a specific series, catering to a diverse range of customers’ preferences and needs, without risking too much.

This is not the case of CdM which constantly breaks conventional thinking and embraces new challenges. The brand’s aim is not to dazzle with superficial, captivating features (CdM never looks for the wow effect) but to deliver projects that, despite their differences, are true to their purpose: to ensure autonomous, comfortable, and safe voyages over vast distances.

MRM: First, I believe it is necessary to clarify the motivation and timing behind the creation of project RAW: Why you have decided to create such a project?

VB I must admit that it was already some time that Ennio and I were discussing about a new vessel which could have fit better a new generation of yachtsmen, with a fervent desire of freedom and looking for the maximum flexibility regardless of the size of the yacht.

GMC: My team and I have been witnessing for a decade now a growing trend towards more ‘informal’, travel and discovery-oriented yachting. Many owners would enjoy a yacht which offers true explorer capabilities, except maybe they didn’t love what is currently available on the market. With project RAW we knew we had a great opportunity to create a new product category: a true and rugged explorer with unbelievable content for the size and yet, a yacht with magnetic, recognizable style and a swirl of Italian sprezzatura.

MRM: What brought you to initiate a groundbreaking project like RAW, and when did you first conceive the idea?”

VB The first conversation about it, the moment I jumped into Ennio’s office to share with him the initial concept, was after I made one of my regular tours of the shipyards’ sheds. I was looking at all those beautiful 499 GT vessels, and realized two things: many of them were for ex owners of our 100 feet boats, and the second thing which came to my mind was that – as the president of one of the most successful Northern European shipyards said to us some time before nobody masters the art of profitably building small custom/semi-custom vessels like us.

With that in mind I went upstairs, broke into Ennio’s office and said: let’s put our head into a new 100 feet!

GMC and they came to us, and we were honored and afraid at the same time! We spent weeks or months at the studio brainstorming about the project’s philosophy and the layout ideas, but for once I’ll give credit to myself, the style was born out of a 20-minute sketch of mine, created on a plane from Amsterdam to Nice!

Let’s investigate with Vasco Buonpensiere, co-founder and CEO of CdM and international renowned designer Giorgio M. Cassetta, the two masterminds behind project RAW to truly understand its trailblazing character.

MRM: Who are the clients project RAW is meant for? From both the commercial and design point of view

VB: I would synthetically say: knowledgeable, distinguished, classy yachtsmen who want to be safe, comfortable and free in a luxury and distinguishing environment. Gentlemen who are focused on contents more than anything else, who don’t want to feel like the many others, who look at the quality of a product before of the brand stitched into it. Trendsetters, not followers.

GMC: Anyone who ever owned or chartered a large yacht will resonate with what project RAW has to offer, but if I had to profile our ideal owners, I’d say RAW is the boat of a knowledgeable yachtsman who isn’t afraid to spend four months on board sleeping in a different creek each night while exploring some remote coasts, and then sail the boat through fashionable rendezvous and lavish parties. Project RAW will master both purposes with confidence.

MRM: How you have identified the size of the first model in the RAW series and what are the motivation of your choice?
VB As mentioned earlier, our primary motivation has been to maintain absolute leadership in a challenging market segment that our competitors find difficult to master. If you, as a yachtsman looking to build a new vessel, think about a 100’ boat, custom/semi-custom, steel and alu, really conceived as an explorer and not just shaped like one, with an incredible value in the second-hand market, built at a shipyard highly reputed as the undisputed leader of the market… well there are not many names which come to mind. This alone was a very good reason: we cannot lose the leadership and market share in that segment.

The second reason is based on what Ennio and I strongly believe: it is much more difficult to start designing a range of boats from the smaller one, but if you succeed in doing that, then the bigger ones will follow smoothly.

The third reason is the fact that we strongly believe in flexibility of use of our vessels and many of our clients already own or have owned much bigger yachts and downsized in search of a more intimate and flexible use of the vessel. The 100 feet range of our yachts gives you the freedom of going literally everywhere (as our Nautas and Darwins have already shown their capabilities of circumnavigating the world hassle free), with all the features which (in larger dimensions obviously) you can find on bigger boats.

GMC: It’s extraordinarily challenging to create something worth of attention in the 100’ range, mainly due to the enormous pressure that comes from competing in a very crowded market segment. A 30m yacht can be both the ‘entry level’ purchase for an owner eager to grow to larger sizes and the final boat in someone’s yachting career. Some yachtsmen will even downsize back to a 100’ after owning larger vessels and becoming annoyed with the operational headaches.

We agreed with CdM that if we could create a product at 100’ which could offer what RAW eventually came to offer, we would have a winner because of the unbeatable balance between a manageable size, reasonable ownership costs, striking aesthetics and a solid offering of features and space on board.

MRM Project RAW is a bearer of characteristics never seen before in this segment of our industry, showcasing a cutting-edge design that redefine the standard for luxury and functionality while setting new benchmarks in the yachting market. Could you highlight the most distinctive features of project RAW and explain what sets it apart?

VB I will leave for Giorgio the design part of this answer, but surely I can highlight the fact that the use of the interior volumes, the storage capabilities, the over-engineering of the technical side of it, make of the RAW a unique product, very difficult to compare to anything else on the market.

GMC Vasco and Ennio were very generous and allowed us to create a style language unique for this product. We wanted to convey that powerful, commanding look that an explorer needs to have while not giving up on the fun side of things. RAW is both bold and playful, it’s not out of place in a commercial port but will be a head turner in a fancy marina. You can line her with classic yacht colors or with bold fluorescent hues and she’ll still carry her posture and personality. Her unique blend of full volumes and soft, very rounded details creates a composition that is somehow reminiscent of geometric abstraction paints, while blinking an eye at a long-standing tradition of specialized off road vehicles design.

MRM We have seen in some renderings that RAW features a very peculiar color scheme and configuration. What can you tell about that?

VB Well, the color scheme is mutated by the Search and Rescue Ships. These – whatever the size – are definitely the most seaworthy, sturdy and solid ships around for obvious reasons.
The boat we are presenting is in fact the vessel which Ennio and I are ideally configurating for ourselves when we will retire and go around the world exploring (if we will be able to afford it…). The SAR colors, the use of very no-nonsense design for some details like the mast, the crow nest etc, the bike pod on the aft, the Jetson drone (or flying motor bike as they call it), the Razor on the foredeck: everything is conceived to have fun, lower maintenance and enjoy exploring in the most secluded areas of the planet. At sea and on land. We are also preparing the winter version of the RAW where you will find snowmobiles instead of jet skis, ski and boots facilities in the lazarette etc.

GMC Vasco said it all. Orange is the opposite of blue on the color wheel. If you throw an orange in the sea, you’ll be able to spot it from a hundred metres, your eyes will be naturally drawn to it. RAW is about travelling, exploring, enjoying the beauty of nature, all while doing it safely on a vessel that can be spotted from miles away. Plus, hasn’t orange been the new black for a while now?